Seed Cycling for hormone balance adds seeds into your diet following the rhythm of your body or the moon. Seed cycling and pregnancy are a natural fit.

Seed Cycling and Pre-Pregnancy Fertility Boost

Naturally anything that helps to normalize your cycle will ultimately boost fertility so seed cycling and pregnancy go hand-in-hand. In preparing for pregnancy your body is trying to create a soft landing space for a fertilized egg, a cushy spot to settle down and take nourishment. That cushy spot is created via the hormones – estrogen to thicken the uterine lining (in the first half of the cycle) and progesterone to ripen that lining and make it ultimately inhabitable for a fertile egg. Both halves of the woman’s cycle need to be strong for this to occur and seed cycling helps to encourage that balance. Days 1 (the first day of your period) through day 14 (when you ovulate) are called the follicular phase. They are building uterine lining and also ripening a strong egg. The flax and pumpkin seeds that you take during those days help to bring healthy estrogen levels while blocking conversion to unhelpful androgenic hormones like DHT.

Day 14 and the window around that time (24-48 hours) is your fertile time – the time when you are most likely to conceive. Strong ovulations need a healthy estrogen spike nurtured by the hormone balance achieved in Days 1-14.

After ovulation through the rest of your cycle is called the luteal phase and is dominated by the hormone progesterone, which is encouraged by the combination of sunflower and sesame seeds. Progesterone is released by the pocket on the ovary out of which that month’s fertile egg came, called the corpus luteum. If the egg is successfully fertilized (meaning you get pregnant) then progesterone levels must stay elevated to help the egg to implant into the uterus and to prevent your body from flushing out the uterine lining (to prevent your next period).

Encouraging good progesterone levels, is in fact one of the most important factors in keeping viable early pregnancies, especially in older women who are trying to get pregnant or women who have unbalanced hormone pictures that are shifted towards estrogen (like PCOS, endometriosis, and many cases of multiple pregnancy loss). Happily in the implanting days women who are seed cycling are already encouraging progesterone with the sunflower seed and sesame combination. But what to do when you find out you are pregnant? That depends very much on you.

Seed Cycling and Pregnancy

Once women become pregnant seeds in your diet can still be highly supportive, but it helps to have some idea of your hormone balance before hand, and the “cycle” of menstruating is no longer happening. In fact, hormonally pregnancy becomes almost a hyper-extension of the luteal phase.

As you can see, progesterone levels are on the rise through the entire pregnancy and logically to support that some women take the theory that they should continue the luteal phase seeds – sesame and sunflower. Others feel that all the seeds provide support and so choose to do steady amounts of all seeds on a consistent basis.

*One good tip to remember* If you’re trying to get pregnancy it’s important to continue the luteal-phase seeds (sesame/sunflower) until you actually have a period, just in case you are pregnant that month. This gives the egg the best chance at implantation.

Women who have a history of estrogen dominance, repeated miscarriages, or are “advanced maternal age”:

For these women progesterone support can help to keep the pregnancy viable and often prescription progesterone is given. Seeds can help as well. Women in this category can use all sunflower/sesame through the pregnancy or a 2:1 ratio of sunflower and sesame: flax and pumpkin. These seeds are not a substitute for prescription progesterone, but they can be safely used in combination with prescription progesterone. I personally feel that all the seeds are supportive and so taking all of them each day during pregnancy gives the biggest nutritional boost. In this case a good mix would be:

Young women with typically balanced hormones and normal pregnancy history:

Although pregnancy is still a higher progesterone time, women who have healthy balanced hormones should have no problem maintaining the progesterone levels needed. In these cases equal amounts of all seeds can be used or the ratios can be weighted towards sunflower/sesame if that is your choice. So:

This can be continued through the entire pregnancy as well as the early months of nursing (up to about 6 months post-partum). This seems to help many women soften the post-partum emotional changes that can occur because of the huge hormone nose-dive.

Seed Cycling for Post-Pregnancy Restoration of Cycle

After delivery some women have a hard time with the sharp drop of progesterone that happens along with the normalization of estrogen levels. Continuing the steady doses of seeds suggested in the pregnancy section can help to smooth out some of the rough edges, but there will come a time when your body moves more towards reestablishing it’s normal rhythm. Some women have a sense of this, whether it’s from changing nursing habits of their baby to hormonal symptoms like skin changes and some women really don’t feel it happening until they get their first cycle. If you start to feel changes then I typically suggest re-starting seed cycling then according to the lunar phase. If you don’t particularly feel anything then around 6-9 months or when your baby really starts to be interested in solid foods you can restart (also according to lunar phase). If your body surprises you with your first period out of the blue, then start seed cycling using day 1 of that cycle as your starting place.

In every phase of pre-, during and post- pregnancy make sure that your maternity care team and doctors are aware of your seed cycling routine and that they don’t have any concerns for your particular pregnancy. Seed cycling and pregnancy is generally lovely, but may not be right for you so do check with your doctor.

Hello! I am breastfeeding my 14 month old, and I’m happy continuing with this. However, I have not yet started menstruating again following pregnancy, and would like to think about trying for another baby in the next few months. Is seed cycling safe for breastfeeding mothers, and could it help my periods return? I’m keen to breastfeed as long as possible, so reducing feeds to try to conceive would be a last resort. Thanks so much!

Hi Laura,
Good question. First off, seed cycling is certainly safe in breastfeeding as the seeds are also highly nutritive and provide a lot of nutrition for your breastmilk as well. In terms of helping your periods restart, I don’t honestly know. I haven’t seen any data on that, but it makes sense that it might push your body in that direction and there is no harm in trying. A lot of women who breastfeed continuously will start to feel the hormone shift around 18 months postpartum, so it could be that things will open up by themselves naturally anyway. I have also had a number of clients conceive prior to ever getting their period back after a first baby (for most of them it was a surprise as they hadn’t been taking any preventative measures due to lack of menstruation. So, there’s that too.) Bottom line is that seed cycling might be helpful and certainly won’t be harmful. Great luck to you and keep us all posted if you get a chance!

I’m a little confused about when to supplement with evening primrose oil. Everything I’ve read, if ttc, one should not take it during the 2nd half of their cycle because it may cause contractions, but the first half it is ok to take. Should I switch around, epo first half fish oil 2nd half? Why or why not?

Hi Maegan,
Great question. If you are trying to conceive then I’d say leave out the EPO and take fish oil throughout the cycle. I have known a number of women who have chosen to take EPO even when trying to conceive and nobody has had any kind of issue, but the fact is that we really don’t have much research at all. Here’s a good summary article about EPO, but even in it’s use for cervical ripening there isn’t a lot of information. When in doubt, it’s better to be on the safe side. For anyone else reading this, if you’re seed cycling and learn that you’re pregnant, just drop the EPO at that point. Does that make sense? Good luck with the baby-making!

I’d love to ask about seed cycling for a woman who is perimenopausal, estrogen dominant, and not pregnant or wanting to be. Would it be best to only do the progesterone-boosting seeds and skip the second half of the cycle (pumpkin/flax combo)?

Hi Bee,
Great question! For a perimenopausal woman, both halves of the cycle are equally important because in this part of life the cycle does tend to push towards estrogen so we need the flax/pumpkin combo to help reduce the estrogens and then the sesame/sunflower to boost progesterone. If there is a serious, known estrogen-dominance then it can be really helpful to add one additional tablespoon of flax seed and carry it through the whole month. So do the seed cycling as explained, but add 1 Tbsp additional flax seed every day, no matter what part of the cycle you’re in. Perimenopause for some women is just an estrogen mess, so that helps. I would encourage you to test your hormones with your doctor first though, because if you’re not estrogen dominant then the extra flax wouldn’t be right for you. I hope this helps!

Hi,
I was seed cycling before I was pregnant for 2 months. Once I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks I continued to seed cycle but increased as written in your post to:
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Now I’m almost 5 weeks and for three days I’ve had brown discharge. I’m worried because I’ve read online that handfuls of sesame seeds daily could cause a miscarriage. I’ve also been having my seeds with honey in Greek yogurt. Apparently honey with sesame seeds is even worse! I’ve seen the doctor and he thinks it’s just old blood but do you think I could be causing harm with the seeds?

Hi T,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! That’s so exciting. I have never seen any reputable information linking sesame seeds to miscarriage or pregnancy problems, but if you’re worried about it, then stop it. Always listen to your body and err on the side of caution. I certainly don’t want to encourage you to continue taking something that is making you anxious! Blessings on your pregnancy and keep us posted!

Hi Jennifer,
It is kind of a lot of seeds. Ha! Good thing they’re good nutrition too. 🙂 This is the correct amount. Mostly we’re trying to keep the estrogens a bit lower and boost progesterone during pregnancy to make sure your body holds a strong pregnancy. If you know you have a different hormone balance or a particular hormone need then this might not be for you, but this is a good general starter. If it feels like just too much to take every day then you can cut the dose of everything by half. The main reason I encourage such a high dose is just because all of these seeds have so many nutritive and beneficial properties that it really can’t hurt – they are high in good oils and fats, high in fiber and provide a number of essential nutrients like zinc (pumpkin seeds), magnesium (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, flax), B-6 (sunflower, sesame), iron (sunflower, pumpkin), selenium (sesame), calcium (sesame, flax). So really it’s a win-win.Now that I’m writing this I feel like I should do a whole post on the nutritional value of these seeds. I hope this helps!

Hi,
I am in the early stages of pregnancy (4.5 weeks) and have been seed cycling for about 3 months. I was told I have PCOS but have had regular periods for at least 6 months. This month was our 3rd try and got the positive. I just want to know what you suggest by way of seed cycling. Do I continue? Thanks.

Hi T,
Congratulations! That’s awesome. I actually ended up writing a whole blog post about seed cycling in pregnancy because so many people were asking. In good news, the seeds are highly nutritive and entirely safe in pregnancy. As with everything else – trust your intuition. If your body doesn’t really like or feel well with the seeds right now, then stop them. If you find that you’re craving them, then you can add more. Congratulations again!

My cycle is off kilter since my first child, and I am hoping to get it back on track with some seed cycling (and a fertility diet) so that we can conceive again.

With an irregular cycle, it’s hard to know when to switch the type of seeds. My past 4 cycles have looked like this: Period starts on day 1, ovulation between days 33-35 (known through temperature tracking, ovulation test, and cervical mucus), period starts just 5-9 days after ovulation.

So, obviously, something is off with the super short luteal phase. Should I wait until ovulation to switch seeds? It wouldn’t help to ovulation sooner if I switched sooner, right?

Hi Rebekah,
Great question! Best is to switch seeds when you’re supposed to ovulate – day 14 – 15. Even though your cycle is really long, we really want to pump up that luteal phase, so it’s important to have lots of the progestrogen boosters. Obviously it won’t track to your ovulation right away, but hopefully after a few months you’ll see your cycle becoming shorter and more regular and the ovulation moving closer to where it’s supposed to be. Good luck and keep me posted!

Hi Alicia,
I do think the flax is still a good idea – it helps to balance the estrogens and prevents some of the worse forms from building up, but shouldnt’ decrease good levels. If the EPO gives you headaches then I’d suggest trying Borage oil. Hemp oil is an estrogen promotor for some women and so wouldn’t be a good idea for that part of your cycle. I would try stopping the fish oil for part of your cycle. It’s nice to complement the seeds with the oils – especially at first while we’re trying to get things balanced. Keep me posted, I’ll be eager to hear how it goes for you! Also let me know if you have any trouble wtih the borage oil.

Thanks. I’m reading up on borage seed oil and am finding people don’t recommend it during pregnancy as it could cause fetal defects. I hesitate to take something while trying to get pregnant that could be dangerous when pregnant, so I’m not sure what to use instead of fish oil for the 2nd half of my cycle. Any thoughts?

Fair point! So – I’d say no to the hemp just because hemp itself is estrogenic, but if you can find a spirulina source GLA then let’s try that one. I have less experience with it, but GLA should be GLA. Keep me posted!

Thank you. This post is very interesting and detailed. I’m have irregular cycles and am trying to conceive with no luck so am planning on seed cycling after reading your post.

If I fall pregnant during the luteal phase while taking sesame and sunflower seeds but do not wish to continue to take them, how can I safely stop taking them to avoid harming my chances of staying pregnant?

Hi Jill,
Great question! As far as I’m aware there isn’t any risk of harm to the pregnancy or the fetus by stopping the seeds, although just in case it might be a good idea to taper them down over a week or so. Just maybe do 1 tablespoon one day, then 2.5 teaspoons (there are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, just FYI) for a couple of days, then 2 teaspoons, etc… I honestly think it would be fine to stop cold turkey, but just in case you might as well taper. Best of luck to you!

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Amy Neuzil is a Health Coach and Naturopath and not a Medical Doctor or Doctor of Osteopathy. All information on dramyneuzil.com is written from a naturopathic perspective. While Amy and dramyneuzil.com strive to have the most accurate information possible, we do not provide medical or health care advice. Please consult your physician before starting any new supplements or treatments and for any medical questions you may have.